Condoleezza Rice says she’s ‘appalled’ by Russian interference in 2016 election

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday she’s “appalled” by what the Russians did in the 2016 election.

“Let me just state I’m appalled by what the Russians did, and we ought to find a way to punish it,” the former secretary of state under President George W. Bush said on MSNBC.

Ms. Rice did say, however, that she doesn’t feel Russian President Vladimir Putin was trying to elect President Trump, but rather was trying to punish Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for questioning the legitimacy of the Russian election in 2012.

“I do think that there was great animosity towards Secretary Clinton,” she said. “I worry a little bit when we start too much judging motives beyond that.”

Ms. Rice said Mr. Putin has been wanting to interfere in the U.S. elections for a while, and Mrs. Clinton gave him a reason to do so this time, saying Mr. Putin is an “eye for an eye”-type of person.

“I think Hillary Clinton gave him more reason to want to do that. She was the vehicle for criticizing his elections,” Ms. Rice said.

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SEE ALSO: Condoleezza Rice says issues driving populist candidates must be addressed

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As for the results of the election, Ms. Rice said there’s a reason Mr. Trump won that has nothing to do with Russia.

“One of the reasons I think you got the election you did is because people feel that the American Dream, as we call it, isn’t there for them,” she said.

Ms. Rice said that Americans feel that politicians and institutions weren’t listening to them and that electing Mr. Trump was a wake-up call. Ms. Rice said she takes some responsibility for that lack of trust and weariness that Americans feel toward government.

“I take some responsibility,” she said referring to the series of events after 9/11 that she believes have made Americans fatigued.

But she also said there is a rise of populist candidates across the globe that also needs to be addressed.

“The impulses and the sentiments that have brought populist to power in some places, and have made them stronger than they’ve ever been in their national electorates … have to be dealt with,” Ms. Rice said on CBS News Monday.

“They are changing the character of politics,” she added.

Ms. Rice reacted to the unprecedented popularity of French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen. Ms. Le Pen, former president of the far-right French National Front Party, lost her election bid to centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron over the weekend.

Ms. Rice said the issue is that populist politics are forcing centrist candidates to address those type of issues in their campaigns.

“What you’re seeing is that even centrist candidates are responding to populists. Who talks these days about free trade, who is really willing to talk in favor of immigrants?” she said.

“You have to deal with the root causes, and that’s where we really have to go,” Ms. Rice said.